Alternatives to “Hand/Eye Coordination”

by Thomas Wood on March 15, 2010

in Language

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Of all types of coordination, Hand/Eye is the most celebrated…and then one thinks, “wait, of  all types of coordination? What other types are there?”  Of course seeing something and then reacting appropriately with your hands is a terribly important skill and, frankly, probably paramount in a great many deeds.  But what about other sense/body-skills?  We never hear of any others or, at least, they don’t have a catchy name like Hand/Eye.  (And about the name: Isn’t it backwards?  It’s not, my hand does something, and I see it, unless you’re applying it to a sort of “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality.)  I’d like to take a stab at naming and describing, in no particular order, a few other useful ways to coordinate your body and senses.

  • Foot/Eye Coordination – This is a gimme.  There’s no such thing as a blind soccer player, in any meaningful sense (‘meaningful’ as in, going to eventually kick the ball in some reasonable amount of time without searching for it on hands and knees. I will, however, allow that it would be meaningful in the This American Life, touching Saturday story and doesn’t-life-triumph sense.)
  • Hand/Ear Coordination- Every great Kung-Fu movie eventually has a scene where somebody throws sand into Van Damme’s eyes and he has to remember the teaching’s of his master.  With soulful breathing, he calms himself, and just as his opponent is about to strike a mighty kick, Van Dam hears his position, drops into a magnificent splits and punches him in the balls.
  • Scream/Eye Coordination - Our buddy, Pat, was the third to jump off a fifteen foot rock into the cold water below.  Mid-air, as he fully witnessed the height and impending plunge, he let out two, successive, bird-like cries.  This skill has engendered many nicknames, which I have the good taste not to repeat.  However, the skill might also be called Height/Girly Coordination.
  • Whiskey/Asshole Coordination – We’ve all got this friend and it’s time we honor their mad skills at deftly engaging their inner assholes immediately upon sensing the presence of Whiskey.
  • Cover/”This Bar Sucks” Coordination – It’s Saturday and you’re all eager to get to the bar, get some drinks, and find that special someone to rub up against.  It’s a good thing you’ve got that one, poor, cheap-bastard friend who has honed the ability to masterfully coordinate the presence of a cover at the door with the realization that the bar, in fact, sucks.
  • Breast/Analytical-Genius  Coordination – In a manner akin to Bobby Fischer’s masterful 27-steps-ahead chess focus, some people have the ability to sense the covered breast of a woman, and subsequently manifest every one of their faculties for math, artistry, language, engineering, supposition, and military-grade reconnaissance, all in an effort to determine said breast’s various qualities.  These special people are known as “men.”

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